Lazarus [Part 1]

Lazarus in the Bible was a friend of Jesus who had two sisters, Mary and Martha.

The Bible doesn’t specify but it reads to me like Mary is Lazarus’ little sister.

The shortest verse in the Bible is found in this account. “Jesus Wept”

Jesus came there with one purpose, to raise Lazarus from the dead. He knew in a few moments that the grief of losing Lazarus would be replaced by  rejoicing and wonder at his resurrection.

But Jesus wept. He wept for the girl Mary, Lazarus little sister. He wept for the soul splitting agony Mary was experiencing in the moment. It didn’t matter that in the next moment Lazarus would walk out of his grave restored. It mattered to Jesus what was happening to Mary in this moment. The questions Jesus read behind her eyes “How will I go on living with my best friend and brother laying in a grave?” “Why werent you here for us Jesus, when you could’ve saved him?“

Mary understood her moments  with Jesus was precious and few and that’s why at their last meeting she poured out her perfume on his feet and washed them in her tears and dried them with her hair. Her broken heart had prepared her  for that day. But this day, Lazarus God? Not Lazarus!

In an act of love to a watching world and a heartbroken Mary, Jesus raises Lazarus from the tomb. It doesn’t erase the days of sorrow, but it demonstrated two things to Mary about Jesus. The first was that God sufferes with us, not above us, or apart from us, but with us, in our moments of deepest sadness. The second was that He is the only one who has the power to do something about it.

Like Mary, I have a lot of questions for God. I had to bury my brother too. Like Mary, I don’t understand why. “Why didnt you save him?” And I don’t understand how. “How could you stand by and let this happen? And I don’t understand when. “When will this huge gaping hole in my life be healed?”

I don’t have the answers to those questions and I may never have them. But if Jesus Christ is weeping with me, and if Jesus Christ is going to raise my brother up from the grave on the day of His return, than I am willing to hang on to see how the story ends, and I’m willing to wait to recieve the miracle.

I’ve believed in Jesus from the cradle and ill believe I Him till the grave, because I saw His face looking down at me with love. I saw His face in a boy who loved his little sister very much. On the day I meet Jesus face to face, I’ll recognize him for the way that he looks at me. I’ll know that look by heart.

Guest Writing: Jaya Sumanth